The 1 Simple Policy That Will Instantly Improve Your Cancellation Rate

Andrea (00:04):
Well, hi there. I am Andrea Watkins. And if you're listening to this while juggling three patient calls, checking in a couple patients, taking a payment, selling skincare, and trying to catch your doctor in between procedures, you might be working in an aesthetic practice.

Blake (00:18):
And I'm Blake Lucas and this is Practiceland. This is not your doctor's podcast.

Andrea (00:26):
Welcome back to Practiceland everybody. This is where every week we're going to share insider tips with you and straight talk to help you tame the chaos, get shit done, and gain the recognition you deserve when you're working in an aesthetics practice. We are excited to have you here again with us today. We are going to dive into some of the foundational policies that are going to help you and your team lead patients through the booking and collections process with clarity and ease. So some things that we do in a practice are put in place to make your life and your doctor's life easier and to protect the business. So having strong financial policies is going to be one of those not very exciting, but really important things that we need to put in place to set our team up for success and to also make sure that we're getting the best patients in the door and making sure that they don't feel that they're at too much at risk, but also really bought into progressing with their procedure and having their treatments with our practice. So today we're very excited to have Alli Petriella back with us to share experience and expertise in presenting this information to patients and how to make it as easy as possible and as clear as possible. So before we get started, just Alli, why don't you tell me what's the hardest thing you've had to accomplish today?

Alli (01:49):
Oh today? I would say getting myself to the gym when I didn't want to. It was definitely one of those Tuesdays that feel like a Monday and I'm not thinking about going to the gym too heavily, but I know I needed to. So made it there.

Andrea (02:04):
So you did it.

Alli (02:05):
Yeah. Talked myself into it.

Andrea (02:07):
Well good. Congratulations. What a champion.

Alli (02:10):
Thank you. Thanks.

Andrea (02:10):
Wonderful. Well, I'm excited to talk with you today about these financial policies. We over time grew when we were in the practice together and really found what worked great to set our team up for success and our patients up for clarity. And now I work with practices all across the nation, and this is one of those foundational things that I like to start off with is what are your policies?

Alli (02:36):
I know I want to kind of flip the question around. So I know that you led huge growth in a practice and now you're working with dozens of practices across the nation on best practices and procedures. So what kind of mistakes have you seen just nationwide and when you were in practice as well with financial policies?

Andrea (02:55):
Yeah, great question. A wide range of mistakes that I think a lot of practices make just because they don't understand the intention or the real purpose behind them. First off, I'd say not having any firm financial policies is a mistake numero uno. It's important that we have financial policies that cover consultation fees, booking fees, deposit fees, how good are invoices, how long are they good for? So just having them is obviously important and then having them in writing for the proper training for your team so they can then clearly communicate that to your patients. Because as we've said on this podcast several times previously, clarity is kindness and if it's not clear to our team, of course we can't make it clear to our patients. And then if it's not clear to our patients, they feel uninformed or if they have changes and we haven't been clear, it can cause problems, it can cause poor reviews, things like that.

(03:57):
So again, big mistakes would be not having any policies, not having them written down, not doing thorough training on what those policies are. And then as far as the policies themselves, having policies that don't protect your provider's, time is a huge miss. You need to have those policies in place that are going to help make sure when we put someone on the schedule that they are committed and serious, they're not going to flake and not show up. And then on the opposite side of that coin is having, sometimes people have financial policies that are way too strict and it makes it way too risky for patients to want to actually put down their credit card or to engage in a deposit and secure a time on a provider's schedule. So there has to be a fine balance between not getting any buy-in and requiring way too much buy-in. Having policies that are just ambiguous and don't help lead patients to make decisions also is a big no-no. We want to have timeframes and limits so that we're creating a sense of urgency, but those are the biggest mistakes that I see and all it boils down to is lack of having them and lack of being really, really clear about them and strategic.

Alli (05:09):
Yeah, I love that and I love that you mentioned we have to have that in writing because just like you were kind of alluding to in practice, I definitely ran into us having great policies and procedures in place except the patients didn't fully understand them. We thought that they understood them, but they would often talk to another staff member and say, oh, I didn't know about that and we thought that we communicated that well, but they didn't really understand it. So just from your experience with a ton of different practices, where have you seen that it's best to have those written policies out? Do you think the website is a good place for it or where are the various places that you think that should be copied?

Andrea (05:50):
What I see being the most successful is, again, like I was saying, multiple different places, having the written policies all written out where they're getting it in their new patient paperwork. So when people are filling out their information, they're also seeing what are our financial policies? And that's pretty standard for any doctor's office, whether it's insurance based or fee for service. It's just like, here's the financial policies, here's your financial obligation with the appointments, et cetera. And then a lot of people are moving to, and this is all just based on potential lawsuits, people trying to leave bad reviews because of X, Y, and Z is having a separate financial policy standalone document that they have patients sign when they are signing their consents for any procedure that they've agreed to have. So that then again, it's getting in front of them in a lesser, not quite an extensive document. Then another thing that we did when we were in their practice is put abbreviated versions of those financial policies on the invoice or quote so that when they're looking, that's going to be a really important piece of paper to most of your patients, is going back and looking what are the fees, et cetera, and putting any policies that you have in place on that document as well.

(07:07):
As far as the website, there are some people that put it on their website as well. Personally for me, I think financial policies are really something that comes into play once a patient has had a conversation with your team member, we're starting to build a relationship so we're not just dropping, here's all our policies of what you can and cannot do, but having the conversation and then having the written form before just like, here's things plastered on our website. I prefer it to be a more personal conversation so they have the opportunity to ask questions and then we provide it in writing.

Alli (07:41):
Yeah, I love that. And just to go one step further, from a PCC perspective, having the policy on the quote is important, but I loved going one extra step and taking a highlighter to everything that was super important for them to know during the quote presentation. So I would always print out the quote and then I would highlight a few items that were super important. This is how much we're doing for a deposit, this is when it's due, this is when your remaining balance is due. So when you're presenting that to them, you can kind of bullet and point to those highlighted areas and they're going to remember and when they're reviewing it at home, those areas are going to jump out. So if they're talking it over with hubby afterward, they're going to be like, oh, and she said this about this highlight and this about this highlight. So just to reiterate, this is something we did talk about and then here it is in writing as well.

Andrea (08:31):
And something that you pointed out in what you just said as well is bulleted, having them bulleted, having a mass wall of text of this is the policy and here are all the words that I'm going to put in 17 sentences back to back to back to back. Nobody reads that crap. Do not do that. Financial policy for cancellations, here's your bulleted points that you need to know. Make it very easy to read and digest for your patients because again, just like emails that I hate that are walls of texts, same thing with financial policies or anything else, people just, they're not going to read that.

Alli (09:03):
Yeah. Let's go into the detail of what those bullets should outline. So what all do you think should be included or not included in the financial policy?

Andrea (09:13):
I kind like to start from the very beginning and move down from what is the patient journey. So first of all, what is the consultation fee policy? Do you have a consultation fee? What is it and what's the policy around rescheduling cancellation and no-shows? So in most cases for my coaching clients, I recommend consultation fees and also giving the patient a little break that if they do need to change or if they do need to cancel or anything, they've got up to 48 hours in advance of that appointment to let us know and we can give them a refund. So consultation fees start there because that's where we're starting. Then we want to talk about deposit policy. What is the amount of our deposit fund fact across the nation? There are some practices that they were only charging maybe a thousand dollars deposit fee for a $20,000 or 30,000, $40,000 procedure.

(10:12):
I'm like, that's not much of a buy-in. I had one practice I started working with that was only charging $500. So it's like usually best practices is a percentage. Some people will just do 10%, some people are at 30 or 40%. I like to recommend 20%. It's a good buy-in amount, but again, you're not requiring a huge amount upfront when maybe their surgery isn't for another several months. So we want information about deposit policy also from the deposit policy. What does that do that secures your OR time that secures the time on the doctor's schedule. Next would be what is the policy for paying the balance? When is it due? What is the policy around any reschedule, cancellation, et cetera? Are there any exceptions for health or death in the family? Things like that. What I like to do is just keep it simple stupid, use the KISS method and keep it as simple as possible.

(11:14):
And then you always have the ability to provide exceptions if someone really is having hardship or something going on. And then also if you sell a lot of product, especially for med spas, so product exchange or refund policies. So if people buy product, it makes them break out, they have a rash, anything happens, what's your policy? How long do they have to do that? Are you going to exchange or give them their money back? Make sure that's in your financial policy and then also your refund policy fees. So what we see a lot is a lot of people use their credit cards to pay for products and or services. And if they do that, your practice is paying usually on average about 3% to the credit card companies. And if you're going to give them a refund for a deposit or for a full payment or anything, if it's a $20,000 procedure and you're looking at 3%, that's what, $600 or something like that. I'm just doing math quickly in my head, but if you add that on top of several patients, if that happens, you're just letting money run out the door. So making sure that you have a refund policy as far as the fees are concerned.

Alli (12:25):
Yeah, that's gold. And I do want to actually camp out here for a few more minutes and circle back to consultation fees specifically. Do you ever see practices like offering to waive a consultation fee if they do have it in place? When or why would that be appropriate? What are your thoughts on that?

Andrea (12:42):
Yeah, I see that all the time and not a bad strategy. I don't have the data to back and say, this is the way and this is not the way. I do see people saying in slower times right now everybody's like, oh, the kids are out of school, families are going on vacation consults are slower. That is a strategy you could use right now is if you've talked to someone already that was just like we lost them because they didn't want to pay the consultation fee. If you really are hard up and you want to get people in for consultation, that is a strategy that you can use. Part of me doesn't love doing that just because you have policies in place for a reason, and if you're making exceptions for patients from the very beginning, then they tend to expect them and they will always want the exception and will tend to be those noncompliant patients. So the rules are the rules are the rules. There are some people that just they will do the discounts to get patients in for consultation. I'm not going to tell 'em not to, but that's not typically something that I recommend.

Alli (13:45):
Yeah, I think that's so important to acknowledge that if you are going to offer to waive it, we're not offering to waive it because the prospective patient is pushing back. It's due to our schedule or us wanting to just go out of the way to be helpful. So I guess to go one step further with that, if you do have a prospective patient that pushes back when you express a consult fee, and we hear patients all the time saying, well, no one else in town is scheduling or charging for their consultation, so why are you guys doing that? Or maybe that's their initial objection of they want to hang up and say they're going to call back, but they don't always. So do you have a standard good response for a PCC to give somebody when they're asking or when they're pushing back on that consult fee?

Andrea (14:30):
The response I would like to give or the response that I should give.

Alli (14:33):
Let's do the one you should.

Andrea (14:37):
Let's go with the one that you should give. Typically, if someone's pushing back about a consultation fee and they're saying, well, no one else in town does, first of all, that's either a lie or they're only calling people that just got out of residency and they're just starting out their private practice because that's typically the folks that are not charging consultation fees, which is fine, you've got to be able to establish yourselves. But if you're working for a practice that's established, and it's a surgeon specifically if we're talking about surgical consultations, it's really about providing the value of the time of the provider and really talking about Dr. So-and-so has been in practice for 17 years. He's literally done thousands of these cases and in order for his time, it's a nominal fee to be able to get the professional of opinion of a seasoned professional that might be able to really help you meet your goals.

(15:27):
So it's not about, well, sure, we'll just give you a discount cuz you're asking for one is really about providing the value of the time of the person that they're requesting to meet with. Because also in the grand scheme of things, if you're a provider, let's think about it guys, if your provider meets with a consultation and they're in there for 15 minutes or 30 minutes and you're charging $150 for a consultation, your doctor's time is absolutely worth more than that. They could be generating so much more revenue if we're just looking at the monetary side of it, if they were doing an actual treatment. And so your provider's time is worth money. It is. And so we have to provide the value and educate the patient about why it's worth it to pay that fee to get a professional's opinion.

Alli (16:17):
And as a PCC, I think just fully having that confidence that our doc's time is really valuable and just practicing how to communicate that in a way that is going to be well received. I think for newer PCCs, that's kind a hard message to put out. It's like, oh, well, I don't know why we're the only ones charging. So just get comfortable with understanding why you guys have to have that additional fee. Do you ever think that the consultation fee should be refundable or should we always make that non-refundable?

Andrea (16:47):
It's going to be a little different in a few different markets. Refundable, if they call us ahead of time and say, you know what? My dog just tore his ACL and he has cancer and I have to spend $7,000 to heal 'em up. It's not a good time. Is there any way I can get my money back? Absolutely. They call us three days prior or more than that buffer, whatever we tell them and say, I talked to my husband, it's really not a good time for us. I'm not going to be able to come in, but they give us the time that we've requested, give him a refund. You don't want to put ill will out there. You're still the policies in place to protect your time to still fill that time, so you're not from the business side at a disadvantage. And when they are ready, you don't want to be the one that left a bad taste in their mouth about, oh, I'm never going to go back to them because they didn't give me back my 150 bucks.

(17:36):
That's ridiculous. So yes, definitely refund the consultation. A lot of practices, some people do it, some people don't. I have my recommendation, but also that consultation fee is typically applicable to whatever procedure. if you do book or have your treatment, whether it's surgical or nonsurgical, that does go towards the invoice amount for the treatment or procedure that we all decide on is going to help you reach your goals. So it's an investment in their potential future treatment. And then other people sometimes like to take that consultation fee and say, even if you don't book, you can buy product or you can, you're coming for a surgical consultation, it's $250 to meet with our doctor. If you don't end up booking your treatment, you can move it over to our med spa, you can take it to our skin lounge, you can take it to our nonsurgical side of our practice and put that towards a skin peel or towards Botox or something like that. And I like that because it does keep people in your house and it introduces them to something that might just be more reachable for them as far as the treatment or the cost or anything that they're able to endure at that time.

Alli (18:52):
Yeah, I totally agree. So kind of zooming back out off of consultation fees specifically, as far as the bulk of the financial policy, when do you think verbally is the best time to present that to prospective patients?

Andrea (19:07):
As far as deposits, booking fees, things like that? Definitely on the first phone call. And I would love to hear your perspective because I know you were a freaking champion at this because if you weren't, you wouldn't have had a 93% booking ratio with your consultations. So why don't you tell me, I think I know what you're going to say, but we're done hearing Andrea's voice for a little while. Allie, why don't you tell us what was your strategy as far as when that came into the conversation?

Alli (19:37):
Yeah, definitely on the initial phone call, like you mentioned, we've talked about a few times, clarity is kindness. So getting that information to them and setting very clear expectations as early as possible is going to set you up for success, set the patient up for success because they know what they're stepping into. It's also an easier way to have the financial conversation on that initial call because we're often talking about dollar amounts. And sometimes when we bring up a quote on the first call and it's the first time we're talking pricing, I see a lot of PCCs put a number out and then kind of go silent. So they're like, oh, breast augmentation is about $12,000. Okay.

Andrea (20:17):
Dot, dot, dot, dot.

Alli (20:22):
Going straight into something like a financial policy, it makes it easier for you to deliver the message confidently and say, it's about 12,000 and it includes all of this, and the way that we do it here is X, Y, Z and start to talk through it. So I think just as soon as you're giving them numbers, we're talking about what those numbers mean and when those numbers would be occurring in the process. And then as far as the very nitty gritty details and the kind of highlights on the quote, those are things that we're talking about at the consultation after they've met Doc and we're formally giving them their tailored quote. So going through it there and then as long as they get it in writing as well, it's those several reminders.

Andrea (21:05):
And I think as well when we're on that phone call with them, we to your point, give them some pricing. Is this something that you've been saving for? Would you like me to provide you some information about financing? Patient Fi is our preferred lender. They approve for up to $50,000, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then move right into, based upon what we've talked about regarding the recovery and the pricing, what's your ideal timeframe? And then we find out from them, are they kicking rocks right now or are they just kind of investigating or are they really, I want to have this done by fall because I'm going in my vacation. So then you learn these things about the patient and then as you're moving to, okay, the next step would be to set up a consultation during that one hour visit, this is what's going to happen.

(21:52):
And then you kind of explain everything to them so they can visualize it. And then I think it's really, really important at that part where you just say, this is usually when I let patients know in order to secure time on doc schedule, there is a 20% refundable deposit. It's refundable up to 30 days prior to the surgery. So if you need to make any changes or anything up to a month prior, you can, but that way if I tell you now, you can come prepared so that if you've already told me you have a very specific timeframe, that way we can typically start looking at dates because we're usually booked out a few months in advance at least. And so this way you'll get your preferred date. And what that does is again, it creates a little bit of sense of urgency for the patient. It educates them about what they need to do to take the next steps. Because if you wait until they're sitting in front of you and you're giving them a quote to tell them about the deposit policy and when things are due, that just prolongs their process and it prolongs how long it takes us from the first phone call and consult to actually getting them on the schedule and helping them to reach their goals.

Alli (22:56):
And I do want to give a little bit more credit to the initial question you asked to kind of open that conversation, which was after giving the pricing and some brief policy talk, just asking because it was such an easy and gentle way to communicate for me as a PCC, is this something you've already been saving up for or is it something you'd like me to share some financing options on? Because it's sometimes hard to be like, do you need financing? And that's how much, much cash do you have in your bank account, right? You're not going to do that, right? So starting with is it something you've been saving up for is kind of assuming that we don't all just have this amount, amount of money sitting around, but you might. So we do understand if you do, but if not, let me share some financing options with you because normal. So I love the way that you asked that, and it's a very easy way to start transitioning into that deeper conversation of just like, how can I be helpful for you? Or are you good on this?

Andrea (23:51):
Right. Cash check or credit? You want to again, make it conversational. And the whole role of the patient care coordinator is to develop a relationship of I'm your girl, I'm going to shepherd you through this and I'm going to help you with any barrier that you might have. I'm going to have the tools in my toolbox and grab 'em and see what we can do to help you.

Alli (24:16):
So as far as the kind of grand scheme of things, how would you say that a financial policy, it's going to help the team fill the schedule? Why is it important to even have this and be communicating this so thoroughly with prospects?

Andrea (24:29):
So a few things that we quite haven't touched on yet is part of that financial policy too needs to be having an expiration date on those invoices. And some people will tell you, if you walk out the door at consultation and you don't book that, the price is going to go up astronomically and you won't even want to book because it's so expensive. I don't prescribe to that. We didn't prescribe to that when we were in practice together because that makes it seem a little icky. But having a timeframe really does help patients make a decision. But there are still some instances where people, for whatever reason, and when I was a patient, I was this person, I could not make a decision the day of. I'm just not that person that's going to make the decision right then. So having a limit to how good that quote is good for is really important.

(25:23):
And it could be a couple weeks, it could be 30 days. I definitely recommend no longer than 30 days. And that really protects again, your practice and that if you want to raise your prices or the economy is shifting or anything like that, you have the ability to do that because you don't have these invoices that have been given to somebody six months ago when you have the ability to just make a decision whenever you want to. It's really, really hard for people to make a decision. But if you help create an environment where they're not so much forced, but just really encouraged to, if you're going to do this, do it now because this is when you're going to get the best price by having that expiration day is really, really important. So that good financial policy is going to help your team fill the schedule because it will help create the environment where patients are urged to make a decision sooner rather than later. It also helps your team to not have to follow up with people for 3, 6, 9, 12 months so that you can focus on new patient leads.

Alli (26:25):
And I think too, even more than that, not only does it help the team fill the schedule, but it'll also help them protect it and keep it secure so we have less, no-shows, less cancellations because patients know that that doesn't really happen around here as much because we are running a tighter ship. Why would you say that it's important in protecting the schedule to have a financial policy in place?

Andrea (26:50):
This we run into all the time. This comes more from the cancellation reschedule part of the policy. So if you don't have that in place, I remember when we first started in the practice, God, this was a long time ago, there weren't a lot of policies. They weren't written down, they were not demonstrated and explained well to the patients. And like I'm telling you, this is years ago before we got our shit together. And we would have a patient call and be like, oh, well my person, my ride, she ended up getting called into work, so I'm going to bring an Uber tomorrow. And that's just against the law. You can't have an Uber pick you up from surgery. So then she would be like, well, I can't come then or I don't have childcare or plans change for X, Y, and Z. And we didn't have anything that we could fall back on and say, well, it's in writing, you already agreed to this.

(27:46):
There is this sliding scale for any changes made within the last few weeks prior to surgery. So that's what I'm talking about as far as protecting your schedule. It protects your doctor's time or your provider's time from having people come up with random excuses about why they can't come in or things like that. It makes it more serious to the patient as far as I better have everything on lock and have my end of the bargain secured because they are committing their time to us and I better commit myself to them too, or I'm going to have financial repercussions.

Alli (28:22):
And I think too, it continually builds the value of your doctor's time when patients know, because if they've got two things happening, they know that the other thing is the thing they've got to, because doc's time was very hard to get. And now that I've got it, I know there's rules around it, so I'm not going to abuse it and I'm not going to move this around and everything else has to be moved around it. And so they know that this time that they've earned is highly valuable.

Andrea (28:48):
Absolutely. And it's scheduling 1 0 1. We don't say, well, we're wide open tomorrow and we're wide open the next day and we're wide open the next day. You need to create, without being sleazy about it, you can create a sense of our doctor's time is valuable. Provider's time exactly.

Alli (29:05):
Okay, let's get into some insurance talk. And I know this is a very common question. When our anesthetic practices and people call in, they're very often leading with that question of do you accept insurance? And speaking directly to our listeners that are cash pay offices, what would you say as a good way to answer the question, do you accept insurance in a polite way that's not just like, Nope, click. How can we still be helpful with people who are wanting to use insurance?

Andrea (29:41):
That's a really great question. And what we want to focus on is what we can do for the patient as opposed to what we can't do for them. And so when someone calls and says, hi, I really need a breast reduction, do you guys accept insurance? Instead of just saying, no, we don't. Which I've heard a million times on lots of phone calls that I've listened to. And it's not that we don't want to be helpful in most cases it's that we just don't, and we don't know how to actually respond to that question. So my recommendation would be instead of just saying no, say what you do perform. So well as a fee for service provider, we do accept cash, check, credit. We do have several different patient financing options available for our patients, but as far as insurance is concerned, if you want to personally submit that claim to your insurance company, we can provide you with paperwork, but we don't have the resources to be able to process that here on our end.

(30:39):
So nowhere in there am I saying the word no, kick rocks with open toe shoes, get out of my face. We still want to create goodwill and explain how we might be able to help them because maybe they're like, well, I looked at all your before and afters and your breast reduction, your surgeon is incredible and I love the results that they're getting. Tell me more about those financing options. So maybe they would go down that road. Alright, so as long as we're on the topic of pricing and insurance and all these different fees and financial policies, Alli, what's typically included in the surgery pricing?

Alli (31:17):
So typically we want to put everything in one quote if possible. So whatever goes into your surgeries. If you guys are operating out of an external facility, then try your best to bundle in everything possible instead of here's a surgeon's fee and then on the day of, you'll get an anesthesia bill and then a few weeks later you might get another bill in the mail. That's very confusing, very overwhelming for a patient. And the more we confuse them, it's going to kill the opportunity to convert an opportunity into a patient. So we want to be as clear as possible, again, clarity as kindness throughout this whole entire process and give them as much as possible as early as on.

Andrea (31:57):
And to add to that for practices that have outside facilities that they're going to and outside anesthesia providers, some people have 'em in-house, go around to other places. It's really important when you're educating the patient about your deposit and financial policies, 20% of what, or 30% of what? Is it 30% of the whole thing. Are you passing through the fees over to the facility or are they paying the facility directly? Because if you're at a practice where they need to be prepared to pay 20% of the total and the total is $30,000, they need to be prepared with $6,000 to book their surgery. But if the total is $30,000 and $20,000 of that as surgeon's fees and they need to be prepared with 20% of that, that's $4,000. So we just need to be again, really clear about with your financial policies, what percentage to what percentages due, when is the surgeon's fees due two weeks prior?

(32:56):
And then the facility and anesthesia fee is due the day of at the facility. When you check in, make sure that as a PCC, you have to know all of those idiosyncrasies for the invoice for the process of the patient so that they fully understand how to be prepared to go ahead and take the next step to book. Because if you tell 'em one thing and then it actually ends up being something else, we look like jackasses. And then every time that happens, it diminishes their confidence in us, whether it's the surgeon or it's the people who support the surgeon. Every time you do something that is confusing for them, it diminishes their confidence that they're going to have a safe procedure and an incredible outcome.

Alli (33:38):
I think in that is also explaining what each of those fees even is. Not just the policies around it, but as you're presenting that quote to them, the anesthesia fee is, the facility fee, that's things like blah, blah, blah, and just outlining. Because to us those fees are very straightforward, almost common sense because we're doing this every day. But from a patient's perspective, they're like, what in the world is a surgeon's fee versus a facility fee? Why are those two different numbers? So just explain to them.

Andrea (34:10):
Absolutely. And discussing and being clear about that is important. One thing I saw recently in a client of mine's invoice, which we have since changed that I don't recommend is itemizing the supplies that are used in the facility because then people want to try and say, well, why do you need this and why do you need this? And what are you using that for? And this that, and have Zofran patch x, Keller funnel $150. And they're like, what's a Keller funnel for? And then you don't need to get that deep into the itemization of where those fees come from. But generally speaking, surgeon's fees, facility fee, anesthesia fee, and then if you have additional peri operative post operative, that can be in there as well. But usually that just comes as a required part of the surgery and you just put that as like, this is something that's included and not itemize it because again, clarity is kindness, but too much clarity is just confusion. Wonderful. So Alli, what's your main takeaway for a discussion today about financial policies and booking procedures?

Alli (35:22):
Have a financial policy, fully understand your financial policy and ensure that your patients fully understand it as early as possible. I think that's the key as a PCC is don't gate keep that stuff. Don't wait until the end of the consultation to be explaining to them what their payment timeline is going to look like. Be very upfront with it, be very forthcoming of this is when this is going to be due. So you're preparing people way in advance and so they can put in their calendar exactly when they're going to owe you what.

Andrea (35:52):
And that insures we get paid, which is important as well, so we can keep changing lives. Perfect. Well, Alli, thank you again so much for joining us here on Practiceland, not Your Doctor's podcast. This is for all of the sales, the admin, all the doers in the practice that really this stuff affects you each and every day in the interactions you have with your patients. So thank you. And for everybody listening out there, if you have a question you want us to answer, definitely send us a message on practicelandpodcast.com. We would be happy to address that as we're going through these really important topics. And then Alli, where is it that we can find you online again?

Alli (36:35):
I'm on LinkedIn. It is Allison Petriella and my last name is P-E-T-R-I-E-L-L-A.

Andrea (36:41):
Fantastic. Well thank you so much. I can't wait till next time and we'll be talking to you soon.

Blake (36:49):
Got a wild customer service story or a sticky patient situation? Send us a message or voicemail. If your tale makes it into our "She did what?" segment, we'll send a thank you gift you'll actually love. Promise no cheap swag here.

Andrea (37:00):
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